Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 393 organizations whose IRS filings report $39,400,003 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($6,101,300). 233 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $20M
- Funders on record
- 393
- Grants received
- $39M
- Net assets
- $20M
What Friends of the Earth does
Mission
Friends of the Earth strives for a more healthy and just world by defendng the environment and human health while advancing social and economic justice by conducting research and education, transforming the economy so it protects the environment and enhances people's well being and by building movements in the u.s. And globally working for those ends.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Outreach and membership program - the outreach program educates members and activists as well as the greater public about significant threats to the environment, and encourages them to participate with Friends of the Earth to achieve positive outcomes including protecting pollinators from toxic pesticides, protecting public lands from pollution, and preventing industrial projects that would harm communities and ecosystems. This is done through online action alerts, online advertising, mailings, print newsletters (to members), as well as social media sites like facebook. Foe also seeks opportunities to educate the public through tv and radio interviews. The communications directly reached over one million people who took nearly 3 million actions in the 2024 fiscal year. These actions contributed to accomplishments like pushing california's department of pesticide regulation (dpr) to develop a binding agreement to propose regulations for pesticide-treated seeds, pushing countries to cut up to $15 billion in fossil fuel funding, and delaying a destructive geoengineering project in cape cod.
$6,684,145 spentof which $376,500 as grants44% of program spendingFood and technology program - the food and technology team conducts market campaigns, scientific research and policy advocacy to promote a more just and sustainable food system. In the past year, the team campaigned to convince garden stores and grocers to stock more bee-friendly and organic products and advocated for public policies to phase-out bee-killing pesticides. It also helped institutions such as schools to adopt more climate-friendly purchasing policies, encouraged financial institutions to divest from factory farms, and advocated for better regulation of products made from synthetic biology.
$3,482,993 spentof which $298,737 as grants23% of program spendingEconomic policy program - the economic policy team aims to create a more environmentally sustainable and socially just world by transforming financial and economic systems. Activities include efforts to end subsidies for polluting industries and encourage investments in clean alternatives. During the last year, it worked to alter lending practices at large financial institutions that fund fossil fuels and harm communities and biodiversity in the us and abroad. It encouraged institutional investors to adopt policies to defund deforestation, particularly related to palm oil production.
$1,933,051 spentof which $89,107 as grants13% of program spendingOceans and vessels program - the oceans and vessels team works to stop air and water pollution from ocean-going vessels, cruise ships, ports and oil development in order to protect human health and the environment. In the last year, it helped adopt and implement policies in the pacific northwest to protect the marine environment and issued its annual cruise ship report card. It expanded efforts to prevent the build-out of new plastics facilities, supported portside communities' in advocating for cleaner air and fought for stronger international shipping regulations at the imo.
$1,534,257 spentof which $80,553 as grants10% of program spendingClimate and energy program - the climate & energy team promotes clean energy and conservation and fights to end our dependence on dirty, harmful sources of energy including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear. In the last year, the team helped lead efforts to prevent fossil fuel subsidies and resisted attempts to open up public waters and lands to fossil fuel development. It continued its campaign efforts to promote energy efficiency and/or renewable energy in nc and also advocated for the regulation of geoengineering.
$1,676,381 spentof which $208,000 as grants11% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $15,310,827.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $16M to $21M (+30%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 7% · 2024 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of FRIENDS OF THE EARTH’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Jeffrey Glueck
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 80 funders to 148 funders, grant income rose $3.6M → $5.7M.
51 of 393 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 46% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $8k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Friends of the Earth (Action) Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money FRIENDS OF THE EARTH raised.
From the IRS filings of FRIENDS OF THE EARTH’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 393 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% of grant income, and it takes 11 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 11 funders to its left
56% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund FRIENDS OF THE EARTH.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 56% · 2018 53% · 2019 34% · 2020 10% · 2021 9% · 2022 8% · 2023 7% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
39% of FRIENDS OF THE EARTH's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH draws 96% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 38 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $18M arriving through sponsors registered in 23 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH is better cushioned than half of the 210 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 210 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like FRIENDS OF THE EARTH
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 26 states
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Foe Action Healthy World Victory Fund · exempt
- Healthy World Fund · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FRIENDS OF THE EARTH: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds FRIENDS OF THE EARTH?
- FRIENDS OF THE EARTH (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 393 organizations whose IRS filings report $39,400,003 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($6,101,300). 233 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE EARTH have?
- IRS filings report 393 organizations giving $39,400,003 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE EARTH, 233 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE EARTH?
- FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS is the largest funder on record, with $6,101,300 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE EARTH find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 393 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing